With that in mind, I thought I would take the opportunity to look back at a few of the smaller companies I have met in the last four months, just to remind myself that innovation is alive and well in this industry.

MICHAEL VIZARD Can be reached at (516) 562-7477 or via e-mail at mvizard@cmp.com.

Blue Titan: one of the first to recognize that Web services are a means to an end,and that end needs a management platform to be successful.

Cardiff Software: created a neutral platform for electronic forms that spans HTML, PDF and now InfoPath in the Microsoft Office System.

Composite Software: the first company to build a true platform-neutral approach to creating and deploying Web services.

Fast Search & Transfer: a provider of search technologies for intranets that make finding information as easy inside the firewall as it is on the Internet.

Forward Solutions: makes a USB device that lets you carry your desktop environment around.

Infoblox: provider of a network-based identity management solution that runs on a dedicated appliance and leverages DNS.

KnowNow: offers a lightweight protocol for enabling event-driven transactions across disparate applications in realtime.

Layer7 Technologies: allows organizations to apply security policies to Web services with hard code programming.

Net Integration Technologies: provides a simple-to-install Linux-based file, print and Web server for the SMB market.

Nominum: created an industrial-strength DNS server needed to fuel the next generation of Internet applications.

Proofpoint: markets a policy-based enforcement engine for policing hostile content, including spam, and for making sure that e-mail messages adhere to corporate guidelines.

RightNow Technologies: an ASP focused on helping organizations reduce costs through Web self-service applications.

All in all, innovation is alive and well.